This application claims the benefit of the Korean Application No. P2002-38025 filed on Jul. 2, 2002, P2002-38864 filed on Jul. 5, 2002, and P2002-78410 filed on Dec. 10, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a refrigerator is an apparatus for taking storage of foods freshly for a long-term period, and is divided into a cabinet with a freezer or a refrigerator chamber for taking storage of foods in frozen or cold storage states, and component chamber, and a refrigerating cycle for cooling the freezer or the refrigerator chamber. Herein, main components of the refrigerating cycle are a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator and an expansion valve. Generally, the compressor and the condenser are provided in a component chamber equipped at the rear bottom of the cabinet, and the evaporator and the expansion valve are provided adjacent to the freezer or the refrigerator chamber. The freezer or the refrigerator chamber of the cabinet is cooled through the following sequence.
First, the compressor is driven by an electromotor to compress refrigerant in gas state, and then to send the compressed refrigerant to the condenser. Also, air is sent to a cooling fan so as to liquefy the refrigerant in the condenser. The flow rate of the refrigerant in liquid state is adjusted at the expansion valve and thus the refrigerant rapidly expands and is evaporated with being injected into the evaporator. At this time, the refrigerant absorbs heat from the periphery of the evaporator to thereby cool the freezer and the refrigerator chamber. The refrigerant in gas state returns to the compressor, and again repeats the aforementioned condensation, expansion, evaporation, and compression cycles.
Meanwhile, since the above-constituted refrigerator is generally provided at one sidewall of kitchen or living room, it is protruded by its size from the wall to badly affect on beauty on appearance, and there is also caused a drawback in that practical space use is lowered. To this end, in these days, there is being requested the development of a built-in refrigerator which one part of a body thereof enters into the wall in or can be provided at the sink. Among these built-in refrigerators, there is being more strongly requested the built-in refrigerator which is provided at the sink which provides a convenience of use upon cooking of foods and is the most preferred space by housewives. In case a refrigerator is provided in a sink, the air flow is blocked owing to the characteristic of the built-in refrigerator, so that there is focused a ventilation technology for effectively ventilating the heat generated from the condenser and the compressor provided in the component chamber provided at the rear bottom of the cabinet.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a built-in refrigerator that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a built-in refrigerator, which can be provided at a sink to enhance practical space use of a kitchen or a living room and to enhance the beauty on appearance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a built-in refrigerator, which can effectively radiate heat from a condenser and a compressor.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a built-in refrigerator includes a cabinet provided in a sink and having a door at a front side thereof and a component chamber at a rear bottom thereof; a molding provided on a floor located at a front bottom of the cabinet; a compressor provided in the component chamber; a cooling fan provided in the component chamber for blowing air to the compressor; a condenser condensing a flowing refrigerant by heat-exchange with the air blown from the cooling fan; and a ventilating passage connecting the component chamber to the outside of the molding for ventilating the component chamber.
The condenser may be provided in the component chamber, or on a wall of the component chamber. In case of that the condenser is provided on the wall of the component chamber, the condenser is partially buried in the wall for being fixed thereto, and is partially exposed for the heat-exchange with the air blown from the cooling fan.
A plurality of holes may be provided on both sidewalls of the component chamber.
The ventilating passage includes a first passage provided by maintaining a predetermined space between an upper side of the molding and a lower side of the cabinet, and a second passage provided by maintaining a predetermined space between a lower side of the cabinet and the floor.
The lower side of the cabinet is provided such that the door side thereof is higher than the component chamber side thereof, to thereby form the ventilating passage having a bent portion.
A rib having an air-guiding surface is provided at an external corner in the bent portion of the ventilating passage, the air-guiding surface reducing flow resistance of air. The rib includes a first rib provided at a contact portion of an inner sidewall of the molding and the floor, and a second rib provided at a contact portion between the side of the cabinet facing the upper side of the molding and the bent portion of the cabinet facing the inner side of the molding. At this time, the air-guiding surface is formed as a straight line having an inclined angle, or as a bent line having a predetermined angle, in which the bent line of the air-guiding surface is concave.
The built-in refrigerator according to the present invention further includes a dividing strip for dividing the ventilating passage into an inflow passage through which the air is introduced, and an outflow passage through which the air is discharged. At this time, the dividing strip is provided for forming the inflow passage at an sucking side of the cooling fan, and for forming the outflow passage at a discharging side of the cooling fan. Preferably, the dividing strip is inclined about 20xc2x0(xcex8) to an imaginary perpendicular line for maintaining same width to the inlet and outlet of the inflow passage.
The molding is provided on the floor between the door and a protruding portion of the lower side of the cabinet. At this time, the lower side of the door may be positioned at the same height as the upper side of the molding, or may be positioned at a height below the upper side of the molding.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.